As it happened: Three dead, including gunman, in NZ shooting; former Labor leader Simon Crean farewelled in Melbourne state funeral

In further business news, Flight Centre boss Graham “Skroo” Turner has accused the federal government of deliberately keeping airfares up by rejecting Qatar Airways’ application to double its flights to the country.

Turner, who founded the $4.7 billion travel agency business, said the decision was “ridiculous” after unveiling a bullish profit upgrade ahead of the group’s full-year results in August.

“The cost of airfares is a huge problem for travellers. I think it’s the most ridiculous decision I’ve ever seen. We have Australian airlines like Qantas, which do not have the capacity for additional services, and yet we’re rejecting Qatar’s extra capacity,” he said.

Qatar Airways applied to add 21 flights to its services from Doha into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane last year.

Transport Minister Catherine King confirmed the additional bilateral air rights were not being considered on Monday, as reported by The Australian Financial Review. She did not outline why.

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Earlier today, Australia’s largest telco, Telstra, told staff it would cut almost 500 jobs in the first major round of redundancies during chief executive Vicki Brady’s tenure.

The proposed 472 cuts come as part of Telstra’s ongoing T25 strategy, just under a year after Brady was appointed chief executive and managing director.

“I can confirm we have proposed some changes to continue to reshape our business so that we remain competitive, efficient as well as effective in the way we work,” a spokesperson for Telstra confirmed.

“These are critical for us to remain competitive and achieve our customer ambitions.”

The figure constitutes approximately 1.5 per cent of Telstra’s national 30,000-person workforce. There are no cuts to its consumer teams, who serve customers in store, on the phone, and at home.

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The percentage of employed women in full-time work is at its highest in nearly 30 years, new labour figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show.

“The rapid rise in full-time employment has been particularly pronounced for women, rising from 54.2 per cent of employed women just before the pandemic to 57.9 per cent in June 2023 – the highest it has been since 1994,” ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

“This compares to a more modest increase in the share of employed men working full-time, which increased from 80.9 per cent before the pandemic to around 81.5 per cent in June, around where it was in 2018.”

The nationwide unemployment rate is at 3.5 per cent, with historic lows in NSW (2.9 per cent) and Tasmania (3.5 per cent).

The participation rate, which is calculated by dividing the number of people in the labour force by the total working age population (those aged 15 to 64), fell 0.1 percentage point to 66.8 per cent from a record high last month.

Tasmania’s premier is dropping the key health portfolio and will shuffle ministerial roles in his minority government after months of political turbulence.

Jeremy Rockliff conceded the Liberal state government had been “knocked off course” by the departure of two MPs to the crossbench over contentious stadium plans.

The government plunged into minority on May 12 when Lara Alexander and John Tucker quit the party to become independents.

They flagged concerns around transparency over a proposed $715 million Hobart waterfront stadium, a condition of the AFL granting Tasmania a licence for a team.

During a speech in Hobart today, Rockliff said he would hand over the health portfolio in coming days and announce “small changes” to the roles of cabinet MPs.

He said there would no new MPs in cabinet, adding the decision to drop the health portfolio wasn’t made lightly.

“This handover will enable me to take an even greater interest in driving Tasmania’s economic growth and creating more jobs,” he said.

Rockliff reiterated that he would not call an early election and said getting the government back on track would take a lot of work.

“But that is exactly what I am determined to do,” he said. “My government will not be defined by one issue, and two individuals.”

AAP

The Gold Coast has thrown a lifeline to the Commonwealth Games, but only if the Australian government stumps up the cash.

Mayor Tom Tate said the tourist city – which hosted the Games in 2018 – could again hold the event in 2026 after Victoria sensationally cancelled this week.

“Do we want to help, is the question,” Tate told reporters on Thursday. “The answer is yes, and we can if the federal government is willing to re-provision [the funding].”

Tate launched the last-minute rescue bid two days after his deputy, Donna Gates, poured cold water on the idea and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ruled out any possibility Queensland would step in to host the event.

Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas made a similar pitch for the Games, but no premiers or chief ministers are interested in hosting duties.

The successful 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games cost $1.2 billion to host and the infrastructure remains in place.

“Remember, I’m not asking for more money,” Tate said. “I’m just asking for the money to be re-provisioned that they were going to spend in 2026. Instead of spending it in Victoria, spend it here in south-east Queensland.”

However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government did not provide any funding for the regional Victorian Games in the last federal budget.

Victoria had previously requested a 50-50 funding split between the state and federal governments for the Games, but no agreement had been reached.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said negotiations with the federal government had “nothing to do” with Tuesday’s Games cancellation.

Last month, speculation arose that Victoria had asked the federal government if it could funnel some of Victoria’s share of the $2 billion social housing fund into Games infrastructure. Both governments later ruled this out.

With AAP and Broede Carmody

Political figures including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Dan Andrews have gathered at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne for the state funeral of former federal Labor leader Simon Crean, who died last month aged 74 in Berlin.

“We are here to mourn a great Australian who served his country and his community with humility and compassion, with integrity and intellect,” Albanese said in his eulogy.

“Simon embodies so much of what truly matters at the heart of the labour movement, that spirit of working together and standing up for each other.”

Albanese praised Crean for holding strong principles, including his staunch opposition to the Iraq War, and said he earned respect across the political spectrum.

Crean held the Melbourne seat of Hotham for 23 years, was a president of the ACTU and served as opposition leader between 2001 and 2003.

Staying with NSW news, former premier Morris Iemma has been appointed chair of Venues NSW.

The coveted position was formerly held by Tony Shepherd, who announced he was stepping down from the role in February. Shepherd’s deputy and Sydney Olympics mastermind, Rod McGeoch, served as the interim chair.

Venues NSW is responsible for delivering major events to Sydney and overseeing major stadiums.

The high-powered body controls Allianz Stadium, the SCG, Accor Stadium, CommBank Stadium and other venues.